THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Gone to Pakistan for "services rendered", sort of. It seems that we are paying about $1 Billion a year to reimburse our staunch ally for military activity against the Taliban & al-Qaeda in its territory. But there is one little fly in the ointment, Pakistan has ceased such operations and announced it was doing so 8 months ago. So why are we still paying.

Some American military officials in the region have recommended that the money be tied to Pakistan’s performance in pursuing Al Qaeda and keeping the Taliban from gaining a haven from which to attack the government of Afghanistan. American officials have been surprised by the speed at which both organizations have gained strength in the past year.

But Bush administration officials say no such plan is being considered, despite new evidence that the Pakistani military is often looking the other way when Taliban fighters retreat across the border into Pakistan, ignoring calls from American spotters to intercept them. There is also at least one American report that Pakistani security forces have fired in support of Taliban fighters attacking Afghan posts.

The administration, according to some current and former officials, is fearful of cutting off the cash or linking it to performance for fear of further destabilizing Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is facing the biggest challenges to his rule since he took power in 1999.

Well, who would have guessed that we had hitched our wagon to a spavined horse? But he is the only horse we have so we keep tieing ourselves closer to someone who isn't really doing anything to help himself.

A study of the roughly $10 billion sent to Pakistan by the United States since 2002, conducted by Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, found that $5.6 billion in reimbursements was in addition to $1.8 billion for security assistance, which mostly finances large weapons systems.

But those weapons are more useful, the authors concluded, in countering India than in fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The United States has also provided about $1.6 billion for “budget support,” which Pakistan can use broadly, including for reducing debt.

In contrast, only about $900 million has been dedicated to health, food aid, democracy promotion and education, in a country where illiteracy rates are about 50 percent, and American policy makers say the education gap has opened the way for religious schools that can become hotbeds of extremism.

Sure looks like Our Dear Embattled Leader has found himself another way to breed terrists. And no doubt when the time comes for Musharraf to flee the country, he will have a well stocked retirement account somewhere.